Chapter 12 - The Man Behind the Caldwell Name)
Rebecca Lane refused coffee.
She refused food.
She accepted water but barely touched it.
Howard closed Gwen’s office door.
“Where did you get these?”
“Victor.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is he alive?”
Rebecca’s mouth trembled.
“He was two days ago.”
Gwen placed the letter on the desk.
“Explain this.”
Rebecca looked at Pamela.
“I’m sorry.”
Pamela’s voice was cold.
“For what?”
“For what my brother helped do.”
“Where is my mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said she isn’t in charge.”
“She isn’t.”
“Who is?”
Rebecca looked at Gwen.
“A man named Elias Caldwell.”
Pamela frowned.
“I don’t know an Elias.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Most people don’t.”
Gwen looked at Howard.
He was already searching.
Nothing obvious.
Rebecca continued.
“He’s Maren’s older half-brother.”
Pamela stared.
“My mother doesn’t have a brother.”
“Yes, she does.”
“No.”
“Your grandfather had a son before he married your grandmother.”
Pamela shook her head.
“You’re lying.”
Rebecca opened the flash drive.
Howard connected it to an isolated laptop.
Several files appeared.
Photographs.
Letters.
Old corporate documents.
One image showed a much younger Maren beside a man in his twenties.
The resemblance was undeniable.
Pamela sat down.
Rebecca continued.
“Elias helped build Caldwell Development before your grandfather removed him.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know the whole story.”
Gwen asked, “How does Victor fit?”
“My brother worked for Elias years ago.”
“Before he worked for me?”
“Yes.”
Howard looked sharply at her.
Gwen felt the betrayal deepen.
Victor had never been merely recruited by Maren.
He had entered Gwen’s company already connected to Elias.
“How long?”
“Twelve years.”
Gwen stared.
Exactly how long Victor had worked for her.
Rebecca lowered her eyes.
“He was placed there.”
Dylan whispered, “Placed?”
“To watch.”
Gwen felt strangely calm.
Perhaps shock had exhausted her anger.
“What did Elias want?”
“At first, information.”
“About my companies?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rebecca looked toward the window.
“Elias believed your expansion destroyed his chance to rebuild what he lost.”
Gwen frowned.
“I barely knew Caldwell Development existed twelve years ago.”
“It wasn’t only business.”
“Then what?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Your husband.”
The room changed.
Gwen’s pulse stopped for a moment.
“My husband died thirty years ago.”
“I know.”
“What does he have to do with Elias Caldwell?”
Rebecca whispered, “I don’t know.”
Gwen stood.
“Then do not use him to frighten me.”
“I’m not.”
“Why was his name in Victor’s files?”
Gwen froze.
Howard looked at Rebecca.
“What name?”
“Thomas Tolbert.”
Gwen had not heard anyone outside family say it in years.
Rebecca opened a folder from the drive.
Scanned documents appeared.
Old invoices.
Property records.
Correspondence dating back three decades.
One included Thomas Tolbert’s signature.
Another included Elias Caldwell’s.
Dylan stepped closer.
“My father knew him?”
Rebecca nodded.
Gwen could barely hear.
Thomas had worked as an operations supervisor before his death.
He had never mentioned Elias.
Never mentioned Caldwell Development.
Rebecca said, “Victor told me this started long before Dylan married Pamela.”
Pamela covered her mouth.
Gwen stared at the old letters.
Her marriage.
Her company.
Her son’s marriage.
Had any of it truly been separate?
Howard asked, “Why did Victor give you this?”
“Because he wanted out.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“He said Elias changed the plan.”
“How?”
Rebecca looked at Dylan.
“The original goal was control.”
Then at Gwen.
“The new goal was destruction.”
Silence.
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“My brother said people were going to get hurt.”
Gwen thought of the blood in Caroline’s car.
“Victor?”
Rebecca nodded.
“He tried to copy everything.”
“What happened at the airfield?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why do you have Caroline’s passport?”
“Victor mailed the envelope to me.”
“When?”
“Before the birthday.”
Howard frowned.
“Then Caroline planned to disappear before the birthday even happened.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Yes.”
Gwen looked at the passport.
Caroline could not have used it if Rebecca possessed it.
Meaning Caroline might have had another identity.
Howard searched the flash drive.
He opened a folder labeled C.
Inside was a passport scan.
Different name.
Same woman.
Caroline Reese was listed as Caroline Voss.
Dylan looked toward Howard.
“Voss?”
The consultant at Ethan’s birthday.
Martin Voss.
Howard opened another file.
Marriage certificate.
Caroline Reese had been married to Martin Voss for nineteen years.
Gwen sat down.
Her assistant.
The consultant watching her driveway.
The corporate destabilization specialist.
Husband and wife.
Pamela whispered, “They’ve been inside both families.”
Rebecca nodded.
Gwen looked at the final folder.
It contained one short document.
A list of dates.
The first date was the day Thomas Tolbert died.
The second was the day Gwen started her first company.
The third was the day Victor joined Tolbert Logistics.
The fourth was Dylan and Pamela’s wedding.
The fifth was Ethan’s birthday.
Then there was one final date.
Three days in the future.
May you like
Beside it were only two words.
Asset collapse.
